Counting Down the Hours
by FeeBe
Summary: Harry is counting down the hours until his date with Draco. Sequel to Newt and his Nan Trick or Treat Challenge- Grangers (object) Book


4 hours to get ready. Argh. Where did Hermione come up with these ideas. 4 hours…make that 3 hours and 55 mins, that sounded better at least it was under 4 hours now.

3 hours and 53 mins till the date! Harry still needed to get ready, casual he had been informed in the letter that Draco had sent late last night. Who went for breakfast dates, seriously? He wondered if it was a pureblood thing.

His nerves had woken him at the ridiculous time of 3am and he had been unable to get back to sleep. It was 4 now, no not anymore that's right now it was 4.12am and there was 3 hours and 48mins to go until his date. Why did Draco want to see him anyway. Sure they had said their apologies to one another when Harry had returned Draco's wand and agreed that with one thing and another there were no life debts to be owed. Not that Harry wanted another one of those hanging over his head. The conversation had ended amicably enough, but still that was no reason for Draco to be wanting to see Harry!

Harry groaned and pulled out the second of the books Hermione had brought home the previous evening. They had read through the first last night and the only thing that they had discovered, to their amusement, was that the stuff that was inside the time turners was actually pixie dust!

Harry had cried out "I can fly, I can fly, I can fly."

To which Ron had replied, "Oh course you ruddy well can. You were the youngest seeker in a century!"

And he and Hermione had laughed so much that they cried. Hermione had tried to explain Peter Pan to Ron but Ron just hadn't understood.

The topic was so dry it was no wonder that no one had re-started the research after the Battle in the Ministry of Magic in their fifth year. Harry groaned as he opened the tome. The brittle parchment pages didn't hold his attention for long because the thought that he should set an alarm to make sure that he was ready in time crossed his mind. After that his thoughts turned to whether a normal watch could be charmed to be magic proof? Given that wizards had watches like the one that the Weasleys had given him for his seventeenth birthday that had belonged to Fabian Prewett, the answer was probably yes. Though he did wonder if the Prewett twins had enchanted it themselves like they had the Molly's clock.

It was now 4.45am, 3 hours and fifteen minutes to go. Stifling a yawn Harry picked up the text again. At least this one documented some of the early experiments on pixie dust and the enchantments that were placed on it for the time turners. There was even a wizards photo of the unfortunate case where one of the researchers had been sent back in time half an hour too far, to land very nearly in the same spot as a colleague who had been using the same room earlier. From this it was surmised that the laws of the universe wouldn't allow two beings to occupy the same space at the same time and therefore an adjust meant would be made, to the location of the most easily mobile, to avoid such an occurrence. However it wouldn't move them far, just enough for them not to be actually overlapping, as demonstrated by the photo showing a wizard sitting at a desk and another suddenly popping into existence, appearing in his lap and then the spindly chair giving way beneath them.

So at least he knew that: one where ever the suitcase had gone it would arrive in it's own space and two given the charms on it, if it fell onto any part of anyone then, at the very least, they wouldn't be badly hurt. Still it was a hard loss. He had really grown attached to that case in his travels, not to mention that the pillow which was still in it was comfortable and the blanket had been one that had been crocheted by Viktor Krum's mother.

Harry tried to get more comfortable in the chair, maybe he should try to go back to sleep. 5am and 3 hours to go. Well, he sighed, there was no point going back to bed now. Years of having to get up at first light, in order to have any chance at completing the list of chore the Durselys had given him, meant that rising early was an ingrained part of his personality and he rarely slept until 6am.

He turned the page and stared at the words in front of him, before shaking his head to clear away the errant thoughts and actually read. Hmm, they had actually done experiments combining pixie dust with blood, that was odd as most blood magics were considered Dark Art and therefore had been outlawed sometime in the 1930s to 1940s. With a finger stuck in between the pages to marks his place Harry turned to the covered to check the publication date. Well that explained it, published in 1906. The results were interesting, unlike external application which was instantaneous, hence the development of the time turner, it took hours for the dust to activate with the blood. It dependent on the amount of magic the individual had, how much of that was in their blood and the dust to blood ration. The stated theory was that an eighth of an ounce in the blood fo a fully grown average wizard would leave an activation time of roughly twenty seven and a half hours.

Well, bugger.

So he wasn't safe for at least another… thirteen hours!

5.20 oh, less than three hours to go now, maybe he should go for a shower? The book was just beginning to get interesting. The shower could wait, Hermione had washed all his clothes the first night he came home so he would just wear which ever jeans and shirt came to hand and his Dragon hide boots.

The biggest thing noted in these experiments was that there was only one way to go forward in time and that was the hard way! That was a bit of a bugger, so it looked like there was no way he was getting his suitcase back then. Location was dependent on the location of the item when the pixie dust was activated. So whoever lived in this apartment prior to Hermione and Ron would be receiving a new suitcase, he really hoped they weren't muggles! And the time, well that appeared to be completely random, though the amount of dust, and the amount of magic in the object being sent contained seemed to be directly proportional to the time it would travel back.

Harry made a note on the parchment beside him. He knew that the 'thaum' was the amount of magic required to conjure a white pigeon or three billiard balls but how did that relate to humans. Was there some sort of scale? Or was the 'thaum' more like kinetic energy. Strength and velocity which were then transferred to another object to make it move. So what were the equivalent measures in magic? Had the basilisk venom and phoenix tears that he had been exposed to in his second year made any difference to the amount of magic in his blood? What about carrying a horcrux around for sixteen odd years?

He wrote some more notes for Hermione, it would take her brain to decipher it he was sure. Speaking of Hermione there was a rustle from the main bedroom and she stuck her head around the door frame, hair sticking out in brown curls. Harry smiled at the sight.

"I thought I heard you out here. Can't sleep?"

Harry shook his head, "Nah, I feel kind wired. Whether that's the date or the pixie dust I can't say."

"Hmmm," she mused. "I would offer to put breakfast on but as you're going out, how about a cuppa instead."

"Yeah that'd be great," Harry nodded and turned his eyes back to the book. "Well at least he could return the first book when he went to meet up with Draco. It kind of helped if he thought about it as just a meeting, without any romantic connotations. While he had been away he had thought about where he wanted his life to go and who he wanted to share it with. To be honest he hadn't come up with a lot of answers. He liked what he had going on right now. Good friends, no stress, his writing to give him purpose and Teddy. Did he need anymore? Did he actually want anymore?

He supposed he should ensure the continuation of the Potter name, but…..he wasn't sure about kids. He had been greatly relieved when Andromeda had said Teddy that she would be Teddy's primary carer. It wasn't like he had a great example to follow. With a groan he thumped his head against the chair a couple of times. To be honest he hadn't had any great desires like the boys used to speak about in the dorm, he wasn't really sure that he was interested in any of it. Before he had left Hermione had said that perhaps he hadn't met the right person yet. Maybe they were hiding, not that he minded.

Hermione re-entered the room, carrying a tray and tea service. She placed it on the table pushing Harry's notes to the side and poured the tea. As she took as sip from her cup she held her other hand out for Harry's notes. He passed them over and then lifted his own cup up. The steam swirled in front of his eyes as he breathed in the fragrance.

They spent a few minutes discussing the notes Harry had made, it really didn't change anything except that they had a bit longer to wait.

"Harry," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"Mmmhmm," Harry responded thoroughly enjoying his tea.

"I think you should make sure that your backpack is packed with everything you might need should you end up going somewhere."

He blinked slowly, before inclining his head, "Yeah knowing my luck that would be sensible. Does Gringotts still open at 7?"

Hermione shook her head with a smile, "It's always been seven thirty, but yes you'll have time to go before your date."

"Argh, don't remind me."

"Harry?"

"Yes Hermione?"

"It's 7.15 now."

"What?!"

"It's seven fifteen, you go have a shower, I'll pack your bags."

Harry rushed from the room, leaving a giggling Hermione behind him.

Fifteen minutes later a clean Harry Potter complete with loaded back pack stood on the steps if Gringotts as the early morning guards opened the doors. He made a quick withdrawal before apparating to the cafe where he was going to meet Draco.

With 15 mins to go, he pushed open the door and took a comfortable couch near the window. He pulled out the book he had been reading all morning and opened it.

"Potter," a voice made Harry look up, Draco slid onto the couch opposite him.

"Malfoy, I've finished with one of the books," Harry passed the first column over.

Draco raised and elegant eyebrow, "I thought they were for Granger!"

"Ah, well you see, there was a little accident with pixie dust," Harry explained, holding out the Tome he still held. Draco leaned forward ready to look at the open page when with a swirl of movement Harry Potter disappeared.

The book hit the table with a thud.


End file.
